It’s been made clear for two decades that the Real Housewives franchise is a rotating ensemble, and I’ve always appreciated that. But unfortunately, the Real Housewives of New York City (or RHONY for short) has proven to be THE hardest show to stay up to date. So this reimagining of the cast might be the trickiest because even this version is constantly reinventing itself.

 

So, the cast of Season 1 (2008) remains exactly the same. This means that Alex McCord, LuAnn de Lesseps, Bethenny Frankel, Jill Zarin, and Ramona Singer are still the inaugural main cast.

 

And all five OGs (Alex, LuAnn, Bethenny, Jill, and Ramona) return for Season 2 (2009) and are joined by new housewife Kelly Bensimon.

 

All six cast members (Alex, LuAnn, Bethenny, Jill, Ramona, and Kelly) return for Season 3 (2010) and are joined by new main cast member Sonja Morgan. And Jennifer Gilbert still joins as a friend-of during Season 3, and this is her only season. And this ends up being Bethenny’s final season. But here’s where the reimagining creeps in: instead of Season 3 marking the end of Bethenny's original run before her “triumphant” return in Season 7, Bethenny never comes back after Season 3 of this reimagining. The intention is to make room for and truly invest in fresh faces. But you’ll see how that ends up being a difficult thing for this reimagined RHONY going forward especially as we get to Season 12.

 

Alex, LuAnn, Jill, Ramona, Kelly, and Sonja return for Season 4 (2011) and are joined by new housewife Cindy Barshop. This is still the final season of the original era, as after this season Alex, Jill, Kelly, and Cindy all left the show, leaving only LuAnn, Ramona, and Sonja as the trio who becomes a part of every era of RHONY, for better or worse.

 

This brings us to Season 5 (2012), which is the show’s first soft reboot. LuAnn, Ramona, and Sonja return and joined by new leading ladies Aviva Drescher, Carole Radziwill (the show’s true protagonist, in my opinion), and Heather Thomson.

 

Everyone from Season 5 returns for strangely delayed Season 6 (2014) – LuAnn, Ramona, Sonja, Aviva, Carole, and Heather, and are joined by Kristen Taekman, who – in addition to being so likable, quirky, and naturally funny – also had the potential to be a co-protagonist alongside Carole. So, in this reimagined Season 6, LuAnn keeps her golden apple, unlike in real life where she was actually demoted during this season.

 

 

Season 7 (2015) is where the reimagining is perhaps the most noticeable, because instead of Bethanny returning to the series, Aviva remains on the show for the foreseeable future. With that in mind, LuAnn, Ramona, Sonja, Aviva, Carole, Heather and Kristen all return for Season 7, and are joined by newcomer Dorinda Medley. Unfortunately, this ends up being Kristen’s final season, which I don’t think was fair. But don’t worry; in this reimagining, this isn’t the last we’ve seen of Kristen. And Heather no longer leaves the show after this season.

 

 

Season 8 (2016) sees the return of LuAnn, Ramona, Sonja, Aviva, Carole, Heather, and Dorinda. And they are joined by new addition Jules Wainstein (the show’s first Japanese cast member) in what sadly turns out to be her only season. And this becomes Heather’s final season for the time being.

 

Season 9 (2017) gives RHONY its most solid core cast with the return of LuAnn, Ramona, Sonja, Aviva, Carole, Dorinda, and newest housewife Tinsley Mortimer. And this cast would remain the same for Season 10 (2018). And Jill Zarin starts making sporadic appearances for both Season 9 and 10. But unfortunately, this becomes Carole’s final season, and (as in real life) it was not her decision to leave.

 

Season 11 (2019) welcomes back LuAnn, Ramona, Sonja, Aviva, Dorinda, and Tinsley. But without Carole’s involvement, and no new main cast member, the main cast slowly starts to feel disjointed. Joining the show as the first friend-of is Barbara Kavovit (aka Barbara K) who becomes a breath of fresh air, but only lasts one season. And this is also Aviva’s final season on the show. Jill Zarin still makes a cameo this season.

 

Season 12 (2020) is an absolute mess of a season from start to finish, showing that old guard is no longer working. LuAnn, Ramona, Sonja, Dorinda, and Tinsley return and are joined by new housewife Leah McSweeney, who was a decent enough fit because of her partying and drinking which fit with the current cast’s alcoholic identity at this point. And Elyse Slaine joins the cast as a friend-of. But the disjointedness gets even worse when Tinsley Mortimer voluntarily leaves midway through Season 12. Tinsley was the best cast member to bridge the gap between the new guard (Leah/Elyse) and the old guard (LuAnn/Ramona/Sonja/Dorinda), so her absence is very much felt for the rest of the season, as well as next season. Oh, and Dorinda is never fired (or as she would prefer to say, “put on pause”) after this season. Jill Zarin still makes a cameo this season.

 

Season 13 (2021) still proves to be an unlucky season. By this point, RHONY has lost its luster and gotten boring due to not investing in a cast that had a manageable balance. Carole, Kristen, Jules, and even Tinsley were not as well-received because they didn’t drink all the time, nor did they really need to drink to have a good time. And this gave them the reputation of being boring. But without someone like them, RHONY runs the risk of being an exhausting show. Case in point: LuAnn, Ramona, Sonja, Dorinda, and Leah return and are joined by new housewife Eboni K. Williams. As the show’s first Black cast member, Eboni sadly ends up being an unpopular addition for the viewers because her casting shifted the show’s focus from the usual messy drunk nonsense to conversations about race, culture, and social justice. This causes friction with LuAnn and Ramona, as well as long-time viewers who blame Eboni for RHONY “going downhill,” even though the show was already going downhill for years. Anyway, also joining the show this season is former housewife Heather Thomson who returns this season as a friend-of. However after her intense conflict with Leah, Heather quits the show and is replaced by fellow friend-of Bershan Shaw, another Black cast member who is a close friend of Ramona’s and clashes with Eboni over what should and shouldn’t be discussed amongst this friend group.

 

And for the next two years, there would be no new season of RHONY until 2023. Now in real life, the show is given an entirely new cast for Season 14. But in this reimagined version of RHONY, that never happens. Instead, it’s given another soft reboot, sort of. And what would’ve been Season 14 in real life, ends up being a separate series in the reimagined world, appropriately titled The Real Housewives of Manhattan (RHOMH), where the ladies of that series hold red apples, rather than the gold apples of RHONY. That would’ve been a much better and safer alternative for the OGs of the RHONY reboot Uban Hassan, Jenna Lyons, Erin Lichy, Jessel Taank, Sai De Silva, and Brynn Whitfield.

 

With all of that in mind… the long awaited reimagined Season 14 (2023 – 2024) – which takes place entirely in Saint Barthélemy – marks the return of LuAnn, Ramona, Sonja, and Dorinda. And they are joined by Kelly Bensimon and Kristen Taekman, following their departures after Season 4 and Season 7, respectively. The return of Kelly and Kristen manages to bring an entirely new life into a show that has long gotten stale because they had been gone for so long, so they’re a welcomed addition, for sure. Other than that, nobody is an actual newcomer, which can make it even harder for newer women to integrate in the future. Meanwhile, LuAnn, Roman, Sonja, and Dorinda don’t really add anything new or memorable, making them a waste of space while also becoming the most impossible people to get rid of regardless of their popularity. If you couldn’t tell by the setting of this season, this is basically Ultimate Girls Trip Season 4 (subtitled “RHONY Legacy”) in real life.

 

And after yet another hiatus, RHONY is scheduled to return with Season 15 (2026), which is basically the upcoming Season 1 of the E! Network’s The Golden Life in real life. It marks the return of the Season 14 cast LuAnn, Ramona, Sonja, Dorinda, Kelly, and Kristen. That’s right, my girl Kristen is back! In this world, nobody can get rid of her, no matter where she lives these days. But as it turns out, even in this reimagining, Dorinda was not initially asked to come back. Jill Zarin’s thirsty ass was supposed to return alongside LuAnn, Ramona, Sonja, Kelly, and Kristen. But she was ultimately fired rather quickly after her unacceptable comments over Bad Bunny’s Super Bowl performance. Anyway, this season takes place in West Palm Beach, Florida, where the ladies have relocated to or spent significant time in, minus Kween Kristen who lives in Calabasas, California. Eventually, however, the season expands into the Hamptons (in true RHONY fashion). And joining the show as friend-ofs are newbie Candace Bushnell, and RHONJ star Margaret Josephs.

 

And so far, that’s my reimagining of RHONY. This cast is perhaps the toughest to evolve. But if the lengthy gaps after Season 13 should give away anything, it’s that most people have mostly moved on from the usual antics of LuAnn/Ramona/Sonja/Dorinda in this alternate universe, and only want to stick around as long as new faces (as well as Kelly and Kristen) are around to keep things fresh. Thank God that in this reimagined world, The Real Housewives of Manhattan is able to have an identity independent of RHONY. And with Season 14 taking place in Saint Barthélemy, and Season 15 largely set in West Palm Beach, The Real Housewives of New York City is nothing but a name at this point.